Memories of Future Seas
by Black Eclipsed Soul
Summary: Plagued by a marine who wants her to stay innocent of the world, a girl grows up with the hate of that world. A world that doesn't even know her. With only her soon-to-be brothers beside her, she must learn the real reason behind the death of her father. If she can stop hating him enough to look for it. Rated M for Language.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

My name is Sortis D Ava and the world hates me. Well it doesn't even know me, but it knows _about_ me. Right before I was born my father was killed, not in one of the numerous battles I heard he took part in from the old man, no he died in his own filth rotting away cause the life he made. The life he made that mercilessly punishes the other life he made, in other words; me. The old man says that it is my duty to live quietly and have the world forget about me, that he didn't want a repeat of history whatever that means. So basically I'm supposed to be bored my entire life.

I wake up under my blanket in the corner of the Boars Blood, the tavern Uncle runs. The tavern air around me is stale, even on one of the hottest days of the year the windows are closed, letting the smell of last night's festivities boil. Trust me, cooked puke is not something you want to smell. I grab one of the dirty dishes lying around and start to clean, the faster I clean the sooner I can leave.

I almost finish when I heard a groan that lets me know Uncle is awake. I sigh, today was not going to be a good day, well it was at least going to be worse than usual. "Shithead! Get in here!" I hear him bellow from his room behind the bar. I place the glass I was cleaning down and walk into his room. My eye always take a minute to adjust to the dark so I take a sniff. Now my nose has always been better than most, probably due to me being blind in my right eye. This was due to Uncle smashing a cigarette into it one night when I had mistakenly walking in on him and his friend awhile back. If it was possible his room smelled worse than the bar. But I could still smell him within the stench. When his putrid odor starting getting worse, I moved in time to make his punch fall slightly off my shoulder instead of my head or stomach.

I fell against the wall with a grunt, his blows had stopped hurting years ago but I didn't let him know that it would only make him hit harder. He drags me to my feet and looks down at me. Now Uncle has spent his entire life living at night or inside, so he has practically night vision when he's sober, thankfully this happens around once a year so I'm safe. His vision was one of the reasons he was so successful as an assassin and a thief, that is until the old man caught up to him. Instead of sending him to jail he gave him me to look after since being a high ranking marine meant he wasn't around, ever.

"Hey asshole why isn't my room cleaned yet?" In response to his, not unexpectedly, stupid question I just look up at him. Maybe it's my burnt eye making him feel guilty, though I doubt it. Or he thinks my gaze it that of a dead person, I've been told this many times by others. I never know which is it but he can never look at me for long, most people can't, even if they don't know what hated blood flows through my veins. Like I guessed after a second or two of staring up he just tosses me to the ground, "Whatever you little piece of shit just make sure it's clean by tonight. He's coming to check on you"

I brighten when he says this, though I don't let him know. The old man hadn't been back in two years and whenever he visited Uncle had to clean up his behavior a lot. He remembered last time when the old man saw my eye. Boy was he in trooooouble~. I nod once and head back into the main room to finish the last of the cleaning. When I was done I left for the forest.

I live on an island in the eastblue, one right on the edge of the calm belt so we're always getting seakings in our bay and the animals in our forest have genetically reacted to something making them giant. It was in this forest that the one person who actually knew me lived. Kyle was the same age as me and we had met a year ago. Kyle used to have everything still would except his mother died and his step mom kicked him out. I saved him from being killed in an alley and he had listened to me, something that no one had done before. we struck a friendship of sorts and started training to get stronger with the beasts of the forest. We also robbed, through the advice of Uncle, so we could get enough money to one day leave this God forsaken hell hole.

Kyle had light brown hair which he usually kept short and wore shorts and a T-shirt with a ripped vest over it. We were saving up to get ourselves a ship so we could go on adventures, Kyle wanted to be a pirate and I just wanted to get away from this world. I hated the idea of pirates but I didn't actually mind living like one.

Kyle and I had an ongoing competition in battles, hunting and robbery for who would get to be captain when we set to sea. Honestly I didn't want to deal with other people so I would rather have him be captain but I hate to lose in anything. I was better at the hunting and he was better at stealing stuff but we were slot even when we fought, unfortunately Kyle was starting to pick up muscle faster so I am having to train even harder to keep up. I don't mind really, it also gives me the chance to gain better balance and depth perception with only one eye.

I reach our hideout in a tall tree, Kyle had obviously just gotten there I could tell by the way he tried to look relaxed and how he called,"You're late!" He knows how shitty Uncle is so he doesn't care if I'm late a long as I can still fight.

I smirk, "Since when did you become boss? Last I checked we were tied in that account." He just laughs so I go on, "let's hunt today I need something to distract me."

He agrees but still asks, "I thought the drugs had stopped, so what's it this time?"

I shook my head, "They did, and he should be glad too, the old man is coming to visit, so I gotta get back early so he doesn't kill me. I'm never supposed to go out remember?" He nods and we head off.

Uncle always is in a better mood if I can bring home anything for the fire. Knowing this and that I should probably keep him in a good mood we take down a smaller deer that's easier to transport. Small being relative, I heard stories about on other islands the animals aren't that much bigger that humans making our tiny animals still larger than them.

Unfortunately I'm too late with my delivery cause just as a carry the deer around the corner I can hear Uncle yelling "I can't take it any longer, Ava's almost 12, I can't handle her for much longer you gotta take her back!" Right and would the bar run itself? Uncle likes my work but not my being.

I hear a choking sound and then a rough voice around something in the person's mouth, if I'm not mistaken, a cigar. "I'll let you choose once more; go to jail, or continue to raise Ava," HA! Like he's done anything to raise me other then set me up with robbery gigs and make me half blind, "and Jasper." Wait who the fuck is Jasper? "The number of crimes I've overlooked for you would secure you a place in the third hell of Impel Down." I'm close enough to see them now and I can see Uncle go pale. Hmm this Impel Down place **must** be hell if he looks so scared. It was then that I noticed a boy maybe 3 or 4 years younger than me running around with this goofy grin that made me want to tear it off his face and strangle him with it, he also was wearing a straw hat that looked so out of place in this city of filth I almost laughed. I set the deer down and sat on top of it daring anyone to mess with my kill.

Uncle and the old man were still yelling, wait more like Uncle pleading and the old man not caring. But I had stopped paying attention to focus on this kid, whom I am assuming is 'Kevin'. The more I watched the more I hated him, he was so happy and carefree and obviously didn't have the world hating him. I picked up a sharp rock and threw it at him aiming to draw blood. I succeeded in cutting his skinny arm with the spinning blade. He cried out in pain, what a cry baby, it barely drew blood, at least not as much as I hoped.

"Oh Ava!" The old man said turning to me. He stopped strangling Uncle and walked over to the kid. Hitting him on the head he said, "That's Ava, she's 3 years older than you. You'll be living together after today, so you better get along." I started at the old man hiding my disdain, I had to live with not only an alcoholic good for nothing assassin but now a snot nosed brat as well? The marine sure knew how to make a place hell, even without this Impel Down.

"Then it's settled." The old man said turning to Uncle.

"What is?"

"I'll leave my son with you."

"SMOKER!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

I stare at the kid with a goofy smile and a ridiculous straw that on his head, the old man had said he was his son, Jasper. I study because I'm not sure how this dinky kid is related to someone as strong as the old man. The kid is yelling at me to apologize, I almost break out laughing not only is he weak but spoiled as well. He's the first person I know to actual complain about a scratch, something you can't even see anymore.

I finish dragging the deer into the bar, all the while the little dork is following me around. Does he ever shut up? He didn't even flinch when I glared at him. He has guts if anything. Smoker and Uncle have finished talking and the old man heads off, most likely to hunt pirates like he hunted my bastard of a father in his prime.

I finally give in and give Jasper a bowl of rice for dinner. Uncle's colleagues have started to arrive for drink and the fastest intel from the info-brooker, aka Uncle. He doesn't have another name just Uncle. When the old man had caught him years ago he had to give up the life of crime or that's what he told the old man. In reality he started a dealership in gossip, anything a crook would need to know before doing a job all in one place, for a slight price.

Once I had opened the bar I got out of the way, Uncle is always in a bad mood after meeting with Smoker. Jasper didn't know better though so as soon as he came through the door he ran up to him and asked for more food, was this kid a vacuum or just a garbage shoot? I guess a bowl of rice isn't a lot but it would be enough to lessen your hunger. As I thought the next thing I saw or rather heard was the kid being thrown across the room into my room.

I slip out the back and start towards the wood. I usually don't help much in the bar just enough to stay under the radar with Uncle. He's supposed to make sure I never learn to fight. The woods are my havan. No matter how dangerous they are they accept anyone, only judging your strength. This is a place that only the strong and the ones stupid enough to want to live survive.

I groan internally when I hear a voice behind me, "Hey! Wait up! My name's Jasper! Let's be friends!" Fuck, I can't have this brat finding my hideout. He would only mess things up. I turn around again and head to the roughest neighborhood in the city. The kid **was** an idiot! he followed me without any suspicion. I ducked into an alley and scrambled to the roofs when I saw one of the numerous gangs in this district ahead.

I watched as they surrounded the brat and then I leave, no point in watching his death. If he was really Smoker's son he would make it out alive. If his father's strength had passed over him, it wasn't my fault he had somehow wandered into gang territory, I was innocent of knowledge of such places.

I had wasted enough time on the kid and ran the rest of the way to our hideout. Kyle was just coming back with a bag of money he had just liberated from its previous holders.

Money is one of those things no one owns. Some people have gained more than others but they are just the temporary investors, until they spend it, give it away, or someone like me and Kyle comes along to become the new temporary investors. This is the first thing that Uncle had taught me.

"So what's up? You're never this late in the afternoon, even when Smoker visits." He says as I slump against a branch in our tree.

"The shitty old man dropped his brat with Uncle for him to raise. He tried to follow me, so I had to ditch him." I stare up at the sky, wondering how people's luck can be so different. The kid probably grew up in the lap of luxury, with food, school, a bed, and fighting. Being the son of a marine hero he would have grown up surrounded by the best fighters in the world.

Kyle just nodded and jumped down to the clearing beneath the tree, "Come on! All the good loot will have been picked up if we don't hurry!" And that is the reason Kyle's my best friend, he understands that I don't want to talk about things. I smirk and jump down, starting towards the city at a Sprint. "No fair! Cheater" he calls as he runs after me.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece. Just my OC's Ava, Jasper, and Kyle and any characters needed to help the story along.

* * *

**Chapter 3**

Uncle and I had a deal worked out; I bring home meat and help clean the bar...sometimes. When I do he gives me choice on that night's intel for robberies. It was a crude agreement, but we decide the simpler the agreement, the better, since there would be less loopholes. This worked for both of us because we both knew the other would weedle out of any loophole they could find. Tonight uncle had given me intel on a merchant house that was going to be empty tonight since there was a party in the next town over. Merchants are the best to hit with robberies because you can get money and goods to sell. That way you have insurance for future profit, so if one of your robberies doesn't pay, you already have money from the last job. Now Kyle and I could hunt and we didn't have any pressing needs, so all of our money went into our adventure chest, for when we set sail.

Once we had reached our target, the merchant's house and his shop next door, Kyle and I settled on top of the houses across the street to wait for the family to leave, and to make a break-in plan. The security was two large dogs, or small bears it was hard to tell in the fading light. So it was going to be a simple job, knock out the dogs, break the lock, and grab the stuff. Soon after we arrived the Merchant and his family left for this party, we waited a few minutes to make sure they were really gone and then we jumped to the street below. The dogs started to growl softly when we landed, quickly before they could alert the neighbors Kyle had pressed his staff into their throats, pinning the beasts. I ran after him and used my staff to knock one out and then the other. Painless, for us anyway. After the dogs were taken care of, we went to the door to break the lock. Unfortunately for us the merchant used deadbolts, making it impossible for us to go through the door. I mean we couldn't break down the door; one, it was solid wood and we didn't have the strength, and two, the neighbors would definitely hear us.

I start to pace, a nervous habit I picked up from one of the convicts that had first taught me and Kyle to fight. "Shit. What do we do now? Do you want to call it quits and try another job tomorrow? We have already gotten a decent amount of money from pickpocketing this week." Kyle says as he puts a hand on my shoulder to stop my pacing.

I stop and look at the house, "No. We aren't quitters, I refuse to be a quitter. We go through the window." The window is always a risky move, for us at least. Since we were too short to reach the window to open it cleanly, even if Kyle stood on my shoulders we wouldn't be steady enough, and it would be worse If I tried on his shoulders, because of my one eye. This meant we had to break the window, as quietly as possible. Kyle sighed and took a piece of heavy cloth out of his coat. Our usual plan for windows is try to muffle the sound as much as possible when we hit the glass. Most robbers can cut the glass and just slip in, this is one of the few disadvantages of being child thieves. Most of the time being short and having round baby-fat filled faces lets you get away clean, or stake out a robbery no suspicion aroused.

Kyle wrapped the end of his staff in the cloth and jumps on my shoulders. Once he's steady he jabs the bottom corner of the window. I watch as the glass splinters and then fall around us. The goal is to get the glass inside the window, away from where you're hitting, but if you mess up and hit in the wrong place the glass falls out onto you. This is quite painful because you have a lot of sharp glass falling down on top of you, it also is louder when it hits the ground. I wince as the glass rains down around us, giving me some small cuts on my arms and a large cut on my cheek. Quickly we scrambled through the broken window and into the house.

One of the few rules Uncle set out, for him to turn a blind eye to my fighting is that I can **never** be caught. As soon as I'm caught he'll tell Smoker and I'll be locked in a rubber room for the rest of my life. There have been a few close calls but so far no rubber room. A thing Kyle had learned before he meet me was that the less you take from the rich, the less the cops care. He taught me this and that is the reason even though we try to do as few robberies as possible. Most of our money comes from other robbers, we hit them after they think they have gotten away with their money. It's easier to deal with crooks then the cops, crooks want to beat you up, cops want to lock you up. It's easier to hide bruises and cuts in plain sight when the old man comes along. When you're in a jail cell, you can almost count on seeing a rubber room soon in your future. That being so, crooks know to get rid of their money quick, or like us hide it. If we want to get of this fucking island before we rot, we have to do some big robberies.

We hadn't done a job in about a month so we needed a large amount of cash soon. If we messed this job up Uncle would be reluctant to give us a job anytime soon. As soon as the window we we're in the house looking for anything of value. We had 5 minutes tops, since someone was sure to have heard the glass breaking. I found the jewelry section and stuffed anything I could grab into the bag I brought, then I ran back to the window, out of time. I waited a few seconds and then Kyle showed up. we nodded to each other and jumped out the window. As soon as we were outside I heard shouts down the street, I looked up and saw cops running towards us, "Shit." Kyle sees them as well, and looks at me. He hands me his bag, then takes off towards them. I watch for a second then take off in the opposite direction.

After I stash the money I sit down to wait. We've done this before, Kyle risks capture so I can get away with the loot. We meet up again after he's lost the cops. I always argue that I should be the decoy sometimes, but he always says he'd rather he end up in jail, where he might be able to escape from, then have me end up with Smoker, where I'll never escape from. So far he had never been caught.

I wait.

And wait.

After about 3 hours I knew he wasn't coming back. I got up from where I had been sitting by our hideout and head back to the bar. I expected to sneak in before Uncle called Last Call and grab a few hours of sleep before I would figure out how to get Kyle in the morning. What I found was a small bloody body on the steps. Actually it wasn't a body, yet. I could tell because once it saw me it perked up. I groan as I recognize Jasper under the black eyes and blood soaked shirt. I couldn't deal with anyone right now, all I wanted to do was crawl into a hole and cry. It was my fault I would probably never see my best friend again. If I hadn't insisted on completing the job, if he didn't have to support my weak ass every single time, if I wasn't crippled with both the old man and a missing eye.

'Suck it up and shut up,' I tell myself, 'you will get him out of this.'

I glare as Jasper comes running up to me and tries to give me a hug. "Ava! You're back!" I hold up a hand and he runs into it, holding him at arm's length with my palm on his swollen forehead he calms down a little. Well he stopped jumping up and down. "I tried to follow you but you disappeared! Then these guys tried to mug me! I told them I was looking for you and they laughed and then beat me up! It didn't hurt as much as when dad hits me so it's ok. Anyway I got back here, but Uncle said you were out on a job. What kind of job? Was it fun? I can't believe you have a job! I wish I was cool like you! Anyway I forgive you for earlier, it didn't hurt that much. But really I tried to get food from Uncle but he just kicked me out of the bar! I can't belie-"

I took my hand off his forehead and covered his mouth, "Do you ever SHUT UP?" Sheesh the kid talked so fast it made my head hurt. And he had no real train of thought, so it was basically impossible to follow what he was saying. "Look kid-"

"Ja-per" He says, muffled by my hand.

"Jasper, whatever, I can't fucking deal with you right now, I have other things I need to deal with, so why don't you just go back to your old man and go on living your spoiled marine life."

"No!" Even muffled that was easy to understand. He grabs my hand away from his mouth to say, "I don't want to be a marine! I want to be a pirate!"

"I don't fucking care what you want to be, I WANT TO BE LEFT ALONE!" I walk past him and into the bar. Uncle was already asleep like a dog in his room, you could hear his snores as you passed, so I walked quietly to my blanket and curl up into a ball. I had just settled when the talk-your-ear-off dork found me, again.

But instead of talking to me he just grabs another blanket beside mine. One I hadn't seen before, Uncle probably set it out for him, how nice, I'd had to find mine. Uncle cares more about Smokers precious son than me with evil blood running through my veins. But who wouldn't? Who wouldn't choose the great Marine's son over his daughter? I closed my eyes and tried not to cry myself to sleep.

The next morning I woke up early and avoided the snoring form of Jasper who had rolled over in his sleep to take up most of the closet. Once I made it out of the bar I broke into a run towards the holding cells. I sneak past the outside guards and climb up one of the support beams of the building. People rarely look up so I was as safe as I could be in a marine building. I make my way along the ceiling beams towards the prisoners. I have to stop a couple of times when people walk blow me, eyes are drawn to movement so even if they wouldn't normally look up a slight movement might give me away. One time I stopped when two people were walking toward me, one was a marine, the other a weather-beaten old man with an evil glint to his eyes. I tried to not even breath when the stopped almost directly below me, but I listened to what they were saying.

"-little room left in the cells, we need you to do your pick up earlier." the marine was saying.

The gruff man laughed, "Don't want to waste any money on a bigger jail yet? The soonest I can take them off your hands is next week, I need to get rid of my previous cargo, and this cities markets are slow right now."

"As long as you make them disappear so no one ever knows what happened to them."

"That is why you hire me, to dispose of your prisoners in a way that gains you profit but doesn't raise suspicion."

"Correct, and you know any word of this operation and I can just blame it all on you so don't go getting any ideas."

A laugh from the gruff man, "When have I let you down?" the marine just scowls at him and they move on.

I don't even want to think about what I just heard, I knew some of the marines were corrupt but selling the prisoners to slavers just to get them off your hands without dirtying them as wrong. I swallow and continue to the prisoners. It isn't long before I see them. I scan the cells until I see a small figure huddled in a corner. Even after just one night in the jail he looked older. His hair was caked in mud and who knows what else, some with his face. Even with all the mud you could see the dried blood and bruises over his body. I sighed in relief, Kyle still looked ten times better than most of the prisoners, and best of all he wasn't dead. That was one of my biggest worries since we had robbed most of the people in these cells at least once. But apparently they didn't recognize him, it wasn't like he was the only kid in the cells, there were at least 5 others I could see.

I moved forward as far as I could on the beam and took out a slip of paper I brought, and a piece of charcoal. I was glad Smoker had insisted Uncle had to teach me to read and write, even if his teaching methods were a bit brutal. Kyle knew a little bit and I had helped him learn more. I scrawled as best I could in the charcoal 'im geting u out'. Once I had done that I tied the note to a small rock with a piece of string. I aimed as best I could and dropped the rock next to his hand. I sighed as the other prisoners didn't even look up as the small rock hit the ground. Kyle picked it up, read the note, and glance up. When his eyes found me he shook his head. I stared at him in confusion, why didn't he want to escape? He glanced around to make sure no one was paying attention to him, no one was, and held up two fingers and then crossed his arms in an "X", our sign for danger. Too dangerous? So what? He was my best friend, my only friend. The person who accepted me for me even though he knew who my father was. I shook my head back at him - I would get him out of there. It was my fault he was in there in the first place, I reminded myself. He glared at me but I ignored him and started to make my way out of the jail.

I said I would get him out, but I had no idea how I would do that. It would be hard to get him out of that packed cell, and I couldn't even imagine what I would do if he was one of the prisoners that slave trader was going to pick up next week. I had to get him out before that happened. I thought and thought through plans as I made my way back to the bar. I didn't notice my shadow until I was almost there. I stop and turn around ready to fight. But all I see is the still-swollen face of Jasper. I growl, "What the fuck do you want? I told you to get away from me!"

He just shook his head and said, "But you're my friend."

I stare at him for a moment, "What crap have you been smoking? Did you steal stuff from Uncle's stash? 'Cause you're dead if you did, Smoker's son or not."

He stared at me in confusion and I rolled my eyes mentally, he wouldn't know what I was talking about, he'd grown up in a place that drugs where probably never mentioned. "Where did you get the idea we were friends? I led you into a trap yesterday."

He just stared at me and then asked, "If you're not my friend then I would be alone, and I don't want to be alone any more, I want a friend." I flinch mentally; he was speaking as if he'd never had a friend before, like me before I met Kyle.

"I'm sure you have a lot of friends, or at least people who want to be your friend." He'd grown up in luxury after all.

But he shook his head again, "Dad was always putting me through training to become a marine so I never saw people, and when I did they only wanted favors from Dad."

So maybe he hadn't had everything, but he still got to train. "I'm busy, find someone else to babysit you."

He grew mad at this, "I'm not a baby! And I won't get in your way!"

"NO! I have to get my friend out of jail, it's my fault he's in there!"

"I can help! Besides, any friend of yours is a friend of mine!"

"I'M NOT YOUR FRIEND!" Why was I arguing with this idiot? I turn around and head back to the bar, and he doesn't follow me.

For the next three days I try to think of a plan to get Kyle out. Nothing is working and I'm getting a bit desperate. The only thing that might work is asking Uncle for help and even that would mean getting Uncle in on my idea which is basically impossible. I'm glad that Jasper's stopped clinging since I yelled at him. In fact, the only time I saw him was when he came in to sleep.

On the morning of the fourth day I was preparing myself to ask Uncle for his help, when Jasper comes into our room. I was surprised, I hadn't even noticed him gone that morning, usually he was spread out, taking up the room. The first thing I notice is a brand new black-eye, most of the swelling from the gang had gone down by now, so the new bruise was easy to see. "What the fuck do you want?"

"I know how to get your friend out."


End file.
